A Change of Heart

"What do you even do here? Where'd you come from?"

"This is my room and there is the bathroom. Here is Joselyns room, she naps a lot so that door is mostly closed. Anyways, the couch is too small for you to sleep on, so Jos and I will share." I show Matty around, Joselyns peeps her head out of the bathroom.

"We're what?" She asks and I give her a warning look. "Sharing a bed." I state boldly. She gives me one more look before she slowly pulls her body back into the bathroom. "I'm sorry to intrude like this." Matty says as we walk into my room. "It's okay, I would feel worse with you sleeping in your car." I state.

"I know Joselyn hates me, so I'll make my stay quick." He says and I chuckle. "She doesn't hate you, I just think she doesn't trust you. Anyways, you'll start getting paid and be able to do more. Probably could pick up another job and then be on your feet. I believe in you." I smile and he gives me a little hug. "Thank you." He smiles back. "I'm gonna grab my clothes and go, I've got a big day at work." I say while grabbing my pajamas and an outfit for work.

-
"Why do you have to be nice?" Jos asks as I plop down on her bed. "Why do you have to be mean?" I ask and she groans. "Because I'm Joselyn and I can't just change it up now, I'm too far in." She laughs and I roll my eyes.

"I'm being serious, he isn't that bad. He needs a place to stay and it's not like he should stay in his car. Your dad is a pastor, shouldn't you be jumping with joy to help him? Being all nice and shit all the time?" I ask and she gives me a look before turning on her opposite side.

"Goodnight. I work a double tomorrow so I'll see you on Wednesday." She says and turns on her alarm clock. I felt bad because I knew she hated when people brought that up, she's not her dad so I mean it shouldn't be expected of her.

I go to apologize to her but she had already started to snore.

——
"It's a big day guys!" Lucy says as we all gather into the studio before the meeting. "Roni you look stoned, are you okay?" Zach asks after they all cheer.

"I'm exhausted, I went out partying last night and I drank too much. My ex showed up too." I groan as I sip on some coffee. "Well here's some Tylenol." Lucy says as she digs through her purse.

"Your ex? You're not from Nashville though." Chase says and I give him a look. "Exactly." I mumble and put the Tylenol into my mouth, washing it down with the coffee.

"Anyways, we'll save the drama for after the meeting. However, we need to listen to this demo." Lucy says and plays around with the board. "I already listen to their music religiously so I know what to say in the meeting if something comes up." I say and she shakes her head.

"No, this is LANYs. I hate their sound engineer, but I love their music. So we're going to listen and make up reasons as to why we want them here. I think they also deserve a deal, so that's why I stole their demo and we're all gonna listen." Lucy rambles and turns the volume up.

The beat starts and we're all bopping around. Hell, even I was bopping with my hangover. "Dude, they're good." Ryan says and we all nod. "I like how like soothing the lead singers voice is." I say and they laugh. "Meeting starts in 5 minutes, start making your way towards the conference room." A voice says over the speakers and I about fall out of my chair. "They have a PA system?" I ask and they nod slowly, I grab my chest and sigh.

"Let's go girl, we've got to get a seat beside my aunt." She says and we both head towards the conference room. "This meeting will last forever because we have to listen to a lot of demos and then Randy will decide who should get the deal after we all pitch in our opinions."  Lucy explains when we sit down. "Okay, sounds good. I'm nervous though." I say and she shrugs. "It's not that bad, promise." She reassures and I take a deep breath.

—

"Well, we have to fill the positions for 4 solo artists, 2 male and 2 female. 3 bands and then the EDM section." Randy says and everyone nods.

Everyone starts putting their 2 cents in about their bands and solo artists, Lucy whispers that she usually waits last minute to interject. "Anyone else?" Randy asks and looks around. Lucy stands up and pleads her case about LANY and COIN. Everyone was giving her looks when she mentioned something about their style of music and I was honestly ticked.

Lucy sits down and I give her a look before I stand up. "I agree with Lucy. What those two bands are doing with their music style is super current. No one wants the same old cookie cutter pop sound, it's boring and old. Since I'm fairly young, I can tell you exactly what my generation wants in a band and they're both it." I rant and stand there awkwardly.

"Who are you, may I ask?" Randy questions and I slowly become self conscious at my rant. "Um, I'm Veronica." I say and sit back down quickly. Lucy stands up and puts her hand on her hip.

"What do you even do here? Where'd you come from?" Randy asks with a small laugh. "She's my assistant, she's been helping me with my work for experience." Lucy explains and he nods slowly. "Is that even like a real job here?" He asks and Lucy nods. "It is now." She states proudly. "Well, you're pregnant so I can't tell you no. You're like a super human. Anyways, thanks everyone for your time today. You're dismissed." Randy waves everyone off and I sigh.

"Well, that went well." Lucy says while packing up all her folders. "Veronica, may I speak to you?" Randy calls out as we were about to walk through the door, Lucy gives me a smile before leaving.

"I'm sorry for expressing my opinion, it was wrong of me." I say the minute I'm in front of him. "I'm not concerned about that, I actually value your opinion. I was going to say thank you, actually. You're right about how you would know about your generation. I like you Veronica, thank you for today and for helping Lucy." He says and gives me a little nod. I smile appreciatively and walk out to see Lucy grinning at me.

"See, you're important around here, I'm happy for you." She says and gives me a little hug. "Thank you, I'm ready to know who will get signed." I say and we start walking back towards the studio. "Me too." She says and the boys look anxious as we walk in.

"So, how did it go?" Joe asks and we both sit down. "Pretty good, this girl went to bat for y'all and Randy thanked her for it. So, hopefully it all ends up in your favor." Lucy says and they smile. "Let's bring it in!" Zach yells, they all tackle Lucy and I in a hug. "Be careful! I've got a baby in me!" Lucy yells and we all laugh.

——

"So how did today go?" Matty asked as I walked inside the house. "Good, I think I did well in the meeting." I confess. "I heard, everyone was talking about you as I was making coffee." Matty states and my eyes widen. "Really?" I ask as I lay my purse down.

"All good things though, saying how it was cool how you were so passionate about it." He states and I smile. "Well, I like these guys and want them to succeed." I explain. "Well congrats roomie, wanna drink it out?" He asks and I frown. "Well we should probably wait for Joselyn." I say and he shrugs. "I mean I guess." He says and then the light bulb flicks on. "Just kidding, she won't be home until like late late." I say and he smirks.

"Let the drinking begin." He cheers.